Bob the Builder visits the wall - Europeans 2017 Top 4 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is the deck I brought to Birmingham for the european championship. As this was my first tournament, I was very pleased and very surprised to finish 5th after swiss and 3rd overall. I had such a great time playing all my opponents, and I got to meet a lot of very nice and friendly people. It simply was a lovely experience. I also want to thank the officials, who assured that the tournament ran smoothly and professionally.

I want to thank my small meta in Bergen, Norway, of which Amund, Aslak and Bjarte were in Birmingham. We have such a good time together!

I want to give Robert a special thanks, as he showed incredible sportmanship when I did a terrible mistake at the end of the quarterfinal.

The deck

The deck is builder themed wall defense, with a hint of counterattack. The idea behind the deck was to make the most solid and impenetrable defense deck I could on a foundation on builder cards.

Plots - Plots are standard wall defense, with the exception of Retaliation. Its a solid plot with 2 claim for 4 gold and high initiative, with the downside of only 4 reserve. I included this mostly to deal with possible mirror matches. A 2 claim for power will often turn the tide. Overall, I think that i could surprise my opponents a little with this plot. It also disturbs the opponents challenge phase, as the opponent as first player has to account for 2 claim in my challenges. Sometimes the 2 claims just shut down the attacks from the opponent- which was fine by me.

Characters - I wanted to have a strong and plentiful roster of characters to deal with valar comebacks. Benjen Stark, Maester Aemon (Core), Ranging Party, Shadow Tower Mason, Dolorous Edd and Messenger Raven are in my opinion all autoincludes in a wall deck at the moment. Benjen especially is such a fantastic card, and I was lucky that he wasnt milked more than he was. I found that I didnt care as much about Aemon as the tournament went on, f ex chosing to save ranging party instead on valar. Aemon keeps you in the game, but he doesnt close out the game. Eastwatch Carpenter is a great card when he is out on the board, especially in a location heavy deck such as this. I would have preferred him to be a 2 cost for 2 strength, instead of 3 for 3. Grizzled Miner turned out to be a fantastic card during the tournament, very seldom costing more than 1 gold. When he hits the board for 1 gold for 5 strength with the wall straight after a late valar from the opponent, he is just awesome. I must mention Sworn Brother, which did a lot for getting out my precious locations. The characters that didnt do much for me was Arry and Halder. Arry is too expensive to hit the board often, but I realise that she is a super valar character. Halder is not a right fit for this deck, as I cant kneel a lot of shit to boost him.

Attachments - Craven and Milk of the Poppy are just godlike cards that should be worshipped. Practice Blade is essential in this powerheavy deck. I should have included one more. Grizzled miner and practice blade is a sick late game combo, with 2 gold paying for a bicon 6 strenght (with wall) character.

Locations - I was growing sceptical about Abandoned Stronghold, as it seemed somehow situational and little potent during testing, even though it is at the heart of the buildertheme. It turned out to be a very nice additon. For one it always made the combat math more difficult for the opponent. It also ended up winning me a few challenges. Overall, I was pleased with the balance of my locations.

Events - I decided to drop The Hand's Judgment and Nightmares, as I wanted to focus on getting out the right locations and the right characters.

Overall tactics - Everybody knows the premise of a wall deck, get the wall out fast and defend it. I think the deck works really well when The Iron Throne is out, which is no surprise. During games I tried to look for the right time to do Retaliation, as it can be very effective. Most games I chose to hold off the valar as long as i could, and just grind it out with what I had. If a opportunity showed itself, I would pop off the valar. Mostly I wanted to use valar to kill Benjen to end the game. If I had 8 or more, I could play winter festival, which pays for Benjen, and then earn 7 power from wall, dom, winterfestival, and valar to kill Benjen. This isnt revolutionary stuff, but hey, it works!

I wont do a write up of all my games at this time, as its getting very late at night. All my opponents were great, and I learned a lot along the way.

Congratulations to Reinhardt, who I had the opportunity to play twice. A gentleman and a worthy winner! I also want to say congrats to king of swiss Gabriel, who i didnt have the chance to play against. He brought a very cool deck with Jon Snow (Core). Finally congrats to Florian, who I played in joust. He went on to top 16 joust, and winning melee championship!

• Jakob